Membership Package question

[bfogle]

While researching different membership packages across a variety of coworking spaces I have come to realize that A LOT of coworking spaces prefer to base their membership packages on a certain number of days per month rather than on fixed packages per month. For example ill use Indy Hall (because I know Alex frequents these posts and can probably shed some light) they have a basic package (work 1 day per month) and a 6 pack (work 6 days per month). Do you find this type of membership package to be more beneficial for your space than say a package that is just based on a monthly rate say $50 a month for unlimited work bar access or $100 a month for unlimited dedicated desk package (just making these numbers up). I guess I was just surprised by the amount of spaces that do their memberships this way and was curious of the pros/cons.

 

Thanks

Brian

[Alex Hillman]

A couple of things to consider:

1) tiered memberships based on usage creates a clear path of advancement. Given the opportunity, people will "graduate" to the next level if the community helps being them more success and/or happiness

2) "Unlimited" does something funny to the paradox of choice in that if people can come in any time they want, most people will come in less. If they choose specifically how often they'll come in, they're more likely to follow through. 

3) You can meter how you oversell with packages. Our business models all depend on some % of our members NOT coming in at the same time. Unlimited usage doesn't allow you to control that. When we notice that were approaching capacity, well also take note of our attendance and which memberships are most popular/in use, and start a temporary waiting list for other membership levels. I

All of this stems from one thing: having an active community before opening gives you the ability to anticipate usage from actions rather than surveys. All of our numbers were derived from the 6-9 months of pre-launch community building, and have held strong as we've grown. 

-Alex 

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/ah

indyhall.org

coworking in philadelphia

Got Community? http://masterclass.indyhall.org

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[bfogle]

Excellent points, I never thought about the point you made about if they have specific days they can come in they will generally stick with that rather than unlimited access.

 

Brian

[Mojo]

Alex (as always) makes some great points.  One thing that we've never done is set our usage days on a monthly basis.  In our experience members seem to think better in terms of weeks.  We offer 2x & 3x days per week Flex Desk options.  Members can select any 2 or 3 days each week to work.  Each of these levels is tied to a fixed number of prints/copies as well as a fixed number of conference room hours.  You can see details at www.mojocoworking.com/#/options

The only time "unlimited use" comes into play is when a member chooses one of our 6 month private desk or office plans.  Then they get keys, alarm code and can use Mojo 24/7/365

We have found that 24/7 is such a strong incentive for our folks that it absolutely motivates longer term memberships.

The other option we offer is a 10-day pass which is good over a 6 month window.  Members can use as 10 full days or 20 half days.

Cheers,

Craig

[Alex Hillman]

Hey Craig,

First, thanks :)

Second, I'm always interested in variables in terms of preference, and using it to make biz decisions. 

How'd you determine that people think better in terms of weeks vs days? 

-Alex

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/ah

indyhall.org

coworking in philadelphia

Got Community? http://masterclass.indyhall.org

[Mojo]

Alex,

As many know I am a "recovering" marketing guy.  I've lived and breathed transactional marketing roles at companies like McDonald's Corp (cash register rings) and Turner Broadcasting (over night ratings) ... along with many others ... for over 25 years. 

One thing that has always been the case is that most consumers, most of the time, can more easily grasp ideas that are simpler and nearer to them.  Most people (believe it or not) have a more difficult time forecasting what they'll be doing over a month's time vs. a week.   

So the answer to your question, initially, is that I was using my consumer marketing experience.  

However, as a coworking space owner, I served up a variety of usage schemes during the early days. Maybe it's market specific, but I could sense in my conversations that people felt they were getting a better value by paying a monthly fee for X days per week.   10X per month doesn't sound like many days ... but 2X per week does (even though it's less).  

So, ultimately - no formal research.  Just general consumer marketing psychology + coworking experimentation.

Curios - have you tried both ways and found monthly to be more successful?

Cheers

[Alex Hillman]

We haven't done formal research on this either - our funnel has never been tight enough to really do a/b testing on the way we describe our memberships. 

It's worth pointing out that a lot of people paying for coworking - at least today - don't fall into the most/most/more bucket and mainstream consumer marketing patterns start to get wobbly. I don't think there's a black/white answer on this one (especially cross culturally), but I'd definitely love to see the results of some real research. 

Paging Steve King! :) 

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/ah

indyhall.org

coworking in philadelphia

[Dondi Hananto]

Flagging this thread as we're currently experiementing with a number of different package options to balance between affordability for customers and commercial revenue..

We've recently opened the first coworking space in Jakarta, Indonesia and still learning how to balance all the hype & interest into actual paying customers. Our twitter followers keep growing but still learning a lot how to grow the community besides those we've had before the space opens..

Keep the great discussion alive guys!

Cheers,

Dondi

Sent from my iPhone

[Craig Baute - Creative Density Coworking]

The most common options I've come across Alex pretty much covered - Tiered  Punch card, and Unlimited. CoCo has corporate packages for groups or rotating desks for companies. We are adding corporate and rotating desks soon because Boulder is booming right now and they are hiring a lot of talent in Denver, about 30 minutes away.

I recently threw up a draft posts on how pricing can be one of many elements that create your community culture. At Density I have the tiered plans because it allows people in different work situations  further geographic locations, and financial means come together. We have people from Vail, Boulder, and Fort Collins becoming members of our coworking space in Denver so I think it is working well for us. However, there are many reasons to choose the other plans like attracting your ideal members, the type of people and work nearby, and how much you wish to worry about tracking people (I do the honor system).

Craig

Creative Density